Man says he was conned by fake job offer

Farhan Ahmad shows his employment contract and receipts of the Bangladesh money equivalent to $13,530 that he paid to the accounts of the father and relatives of a Bangladeshi security guard, who promised him a job on Saipan. Since his arrival on Saipan last Sept. 23, Ahmad remains jobless. (Ferdie de la Torre)

A Bangladeshi national who allegedly paid the equivalent of $13,530 after being promised a construction job on Saipan has remained jobless for three months now.

Speaking with the assistance of an interpreter, Farhan Ahmad, 25, told Saipan Tribune that he arrived on Saipan last Sept. 23 on a CW-1 permit he obtained from his supposed employer, Curtwill Corp.

Ahmad said his employment contract indicates that he will work as a general helper and maintenance/ construction worker at $6.05 an hour.

Ahmad said a Bangladeshi national, who acted as a “middle man,” facilitated his papers and promised him a job as a waiter at a five-star hotel and that his monthly salary would gradually increase to $1,300 a month.

Saipan Tribune opted to withhold temporarily the identity of the alleged middle man as he was not available for comments as of press time.

Ahmad said the middle man told him to be patient and that he would pay him back half of the $14,175, including his expenses for the U.S. embassy, hotel, and food.

Ahmad was almost about to graduate college in Bangladesh but his parents got sick, forcing him to stop schooling. He then met a police officer in their country who referred him to the “middle man.”

Ahmad said he managed to exchange phone calls and messages with the middle man, who was already working on Saipan as a security guard.

At the middle man’s instructions, Ahmad made seven payments from May 26, 2015, to Aug. 31, 2016, amounting to over a million in Bangladeshi currency that he had borrowed. The amount is equivalent to $13,530 and was deposited in different accounts belonging to the middle man’s father and some relatives.

When he arrived on Saipan, the middle man’s relative picked Ahmad up at the airport and brought him to their house in Chalan Kanoa. He said the house has three rooms and there are four of them, including the middle man. He was given a room.

After seven days, the middle man brought him to Curtwill Corp., but the company told him that there was no job for him.

After two months, Ahmad said, he was told to get out of the room and he stayed in the kitchen. With no job and no money, Ahmad survived by eating leftover food.

Since arriving on the island, he only earned $100 by bush cutting at a house referred by a friend.

Ahmad recently met the interpreter, who then brought him to the U.S. Department of Labor office on Saipan last Dec. 6.

Ahmad said a Homeland Security agent also interviewed him last Dec. 13.

He said Karidat has been assisting him with a card that he uses to buy $50 worth of food.

Ahmad asked the U.S. and the CNMI government to help him get a job because he has to pay the loan back and that he and his family are now not safe because he complained to authorities. He was set to get his belongings from the middle man’s house and move to a friend’s residence last Monday.

Ahmad’s CW-1 permit will expire on April 15, 2017.